Nice! I've been wanting to try a Nagaoka cartridge for some time. I recently upgraded my stylus and settled on the Audiotechnica VM540ML. Good bang for the buck at approximately 200 USD. The microline stylus completely eliminated the inner-groove distortion (IGD) I was experiencing on my TT. I totally would have bit on a MP-200 for that price.

Having these expensive styli really makes one think twice about buying/playing a used record that's less than perfect.

Your AT VM540ML was on the shortlist of carts I wanted to get actually. It gets great reviews and seems super crisp and detailed, (thanks to the microline stylus), yet balanced. and as you said, you can kiss IGD goodbye with that stylus. and you get spectacular tracking. I'd actually love to try one in my system at some point. hopefully a friend of mine gets one soon so I can try it!

I haven't heard the Nagaoka yet but I can't wait. supposedly is extremely well balanced and clear and a little sweet sounding. Which should complement my system that's a hair on the bright side. Something I find fascinating with the Nag is the combo of boron cantilever and an elliptical cut. Now at first I thought "what the hell, why waste a boron cantilever on an elliptical diamond?", but now that I think about it it's pretty interesting : the light canti gives you better tracking and resonance, and the coarser cut picks up less surface noise. so it's gonna be about the best stuff to use to extract more music from old beat up LPs. (and my records aren't washed so they're not in pristine condition, althought they're not damaged for the most part, but some used ones have decent wear in the grooves).

Got the Switch port of Gigantic Army in the mail last week. I had bought it on eShop the day it came out, but I just couldn't resist the rather surprising physical release, making this the third time I've bought the game. The first time being the original Japanese release, which I got through rancor way back in 2010. Commemorative photo:

I do wish they had at least included a manual in the Switch release. Manuals are cool.

Still haven't 1CCed the Switch version on Insane, though I have come close.

_________________No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.

Many photos again, for the same reason as usual (taken soon after the stuff came in, posted in bulk for the lack of haste).

No African-American corner intended, it's just that those two happend to arrive on the same day. Most bizarrely, despite its cover and writing on the disc, this is NOT Moanin' in the Moonlight album printed on it; it's the Howlin' Wolf a.k.a. "Rocking Chair" 1962 compilation album. Also 12 tracks, thus most likely, once the CD got mislabelled, someone'd put in in the box anyways, hoping to get away with such a misadventure.

I visited a record store, hoping to buy Tango in the Night on a whim. It was there alright, but so obscenely expensive for my money, that, seeing Then Play On WAY cheaper next to it, I believe I made the right choice.

Another day, same record store. No really real serious place to supply oneself with CDs nowadays, but I came in all the same hoping to find somehing of interest, on a whim, again. Now, I'm, not into "The (Very) Best of" compilations, usually, but it was cheap enough, I actually had memories of this one getting quite enthusiastic reviews in its time, also, one has to be a prick not to appreciate the selection of tracks on here. Still questions, such as "why no A Quick One, While He's Away on here, no Real Me* - really? - where's The Kids are Alright?" Boy, did I not now John Entwistle had departed.

*) It appears - nothing at all out of the entire Quadrophenia album, which is weird. Unless I'm missing somehing.

Although the Orthodox Church music album I REALLY wanna get is the one recorded by the choir of Supraśl Monastery (famed for being GOOD within tradition of, generally speaking, pretty good singing altogether), I so have a soft spot for the Naxos label. The Harmoniemusik album is truly fantastic, by the way, most-marvellously recorded as well. Only once did I enter the hall/chamber where it took place, am looking forward to another time there.

I'll post pics later since I'm still waiting on some things, but I just ordered some Saturn stuff. Soukyugurentai Otokyu, Fantasy Zone, and Sega Ages Memorial Selection v2 have arrived and I'm still waiting on Space Harrier, Dynamite Deka, Afterburner II, Virtua Cop 2, and the mission stick. I also had a few minor niggles with the Action Replay (have to put it in multiple times to get it to work and it seems to be finicky with a couple games, though it works consistently once I get it working) and bought a JP Saturn. I already have a 4M cart for Vampire Savior.

I also ordered a couple cheap GG games since I bought those adapters for the mega SG. Pac-Man, Pengo, Sonic 1, and The GG Shinobi.

Souky is the Otoukyuu version. Despite the lack of Die Hard license, the voices in Dynamite Deka are in English and text is in English when the system language is set to English. For some reason Soukyugurentai didn't like to launch from the Action Replay menu sometimes, but is in excellent condition and works on the JP Saturn. I also tried Vampire Savior with my 4m cart (that I haven't tested before since I only had a US Saturn before) and it works great (though it took a few tries to get working).

_________________~Imagination and memory are but one thing, which for diverse considerations have diverse names~|~*~*~*~*~*~* If there's a place that I could be ~ Then I'd be another memory*~*~*~*~*~*~

I'm not sure if your serious since I can't imagine an analog flight stick being good for a fighter, but I might give it a go. I do plan to get a fightstick eventually, but the stock pad is so good, it hasn't been a priority.

1m for RBFF and Cotton 2 and the standard Backup/Power Memory card for saving games.

I see some nice Saturn stuff here. My latest stupid idea : collect as many copies possible of the same games : Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story I, II and III, in their jewel case version (code T-13307G, T-13311G and T-13313G)..I could get a copy of III, which is easily one of the rarest game on the system. Though the lack of spine card kills me a little bit more every day.

Definitely, though I held off on Outrun for awhile since early revisions of it don't work on some systems (and later read that was the case with Space Harrier too). The bad news is that both turned out to be earlier revisions (which I found out by looking at the ring of the discs), but the good news is that the white JP Saturn is one of the earlier revisions, which plays both with no issues. They also play without a hitch on the US model 1 Saturn with the Action Replay.

Omega Boost, excellent pickup. Have you played it before? There's a bit of a learning curve, but once that clicks it's a killer arcade-styled score attack game. Still looks and sounds phenomenal too, one of the best uses for a subwoofer.

Omega Boost, excellent pickup. Have you played it before? There's a bit of a learning curve, but once that clicks it's a killer arcade-styled score attack game. Still looks and sounds phenomenal too, one of the best uses for a subwoofer.

Yeah I have the US version and love it, but saw it complete for 100 yen, had to bite. Fantstic game!

Nice one on that Omega Boost! In fact I just picked one up myself, together with a few more PS1 games:

I love how Cyber Sled still has the "Namcot" brand.

Picked up a few Saturn games as well:

VF is a shoddy port, but I just love the flat shaded polygons and the 32X version, which actually plays better, is really expensive.

Also some PC-FX and Neo Geo fare:

Nirgends is a kind of dogfight sim with superb world building and super wonky Germanese names strewn throughout the game. I'm a huge Micro Cabin fan, so had to pick it up. Nobody but me seems to care about this developer. Chip Chan Kick is obviously one of the few 2D action titles on the system.I already cleared Sonic Wings 3 after spending an evening with it. Very nice game!

Also some old handheld stuff:

I now own three versions of Toki and they're all different.

Finally, some cheapo Master System games:

I think New Zealand Story is one of the best home versions.Shadow Dancer is of note, because it's a straight arcade port as opposed to MD game of the same name.